I was chatting with my yoga students last week about how we preserve tomatoes. Every year is seems the process has more and easier options. Our preferred method uses a vacuum sealer and chest freezers.

This year's tomato harvest is slow to arrive due to the cooler than usual temperatures we are experiencing in Minnesota. We may have to harvest our tomatoes green and let them ripen. Once our tomatoes are ripe, either picked early green or ripe red on the vine, we will bring them indoors, wash and dry them and vacuum seal them in long bags. One of my students does this and doesn't wash them, making it even easier.

Vacuum sealers run $20 to over $200. We purchased our Food Saver model from the local hardware store for around $99, on sale. We reuse bags when we can, washing and drying between uses.

When we get to harvesting tomatoes I will make another blog post with an update on what we did and why. Might be fun to try something else this year. Stay tuned!

When to Plant: Find your average last frost date (The Old Farmer's Almanac offers an online calculator) and count backward from the seed’s average maturity period to figure the optimum planting time, adding a week or two for weather variations."It’s hard to believe during the hottest days of summer, but autumn is on its way. And although we often think of late summer as the height of the harvest season, by planting a second-season garden you can yield crops all the way into early winter. In fact, some varieties grow best during the milder days and cooler nights of fall.

It’s hard to believe during the hottest days of summer, but autumn is on its way. And although we often think of late summer as the height of the harvest season, by planting a second-season garden you can yield crops all the way into early winter. In fact, some varieties grow best during the milder days and cooler nights of fall.

When to Plant: Find your average last frost date (The Old Farmer's Almanac offers an online calculator) and count backward from the seed’s average maturity period to figure the optimum planting time, adding a week or two for weather variations.

Successful Second-Season Planting

• Make room for new late-season plants by pulling out any varieties that are no longer performing well, taking care to remove stems and roots.

• Prepare the late-season garden bed by loosening any compacted soil and digging in organic matter.

• When an early frost is predicted, cover plants overnight with woven fabric to provide additional protection of 2 to 5 degrees.

• For faster gratification, choose quick-growing varieties that go from seed to table in 40 days or less, such as arugula and lettuce.

• Select fall or winter varieties of seeds when available, or look for cultivars with earlier maturing dates.

• Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, snow peas and radishes will usually handle temperatures that dip to the upper 20s.

• Collard greens and kale can survive mid-20 degree temperatures, and because the plants produce natural sugars as a defense against the cold, they often taste sweeter and more flavorful after a hard frost."

"Harvest handfuls. Gather herbs early in the day, after the dew has dried but before the sun bakes the plants' essential oils. If you're harvesting an herb's leaves, cut the stems at their peak, when the flowers start to form. If you like, gather the blooms of herbs when they develop fully."

A big thanks to all of our customers for purchasing Garden Circles! We would love to see your Garden Circles all set-up, what you're growing and how you're enjoying the raised bed lifestyle. Now through September we invite our customers to send or post images or video of their Garden Circles raised beds and be entered into a drawing for one of three prizes! First: a $75 gift certificate with free shipping to the lower 48 states and discounted shipping to AK/HI. Second: a 30% off one item coupon, can be used in person or online. Third: a 20% off one item coupon, can be used in person or online.

CUSTOMER PERKS DRAWING

Name, Email, State (if using Facebook or Instagram to participate send this information via private message to Garden Circles)

Send Image or Video to gardencirclesmn@gmail.com

or Post Image or Video on Facebook(FB) or Instagram(IG) tagging @gardencirclesraisedbeds (FB) or @gardencircles (IG) or posting on our wall

One entry per household

Winners will be announced September 30th - stay tuned!

By participating you give permission for images or video to be featured in future marketing campaigns by Garden Circles